De Beers To Halve Diamond Stockpile

(Rapaport…NY, Oct. 19, 1999) – De Beers plans to cut its diamond stockpile to somewhere between $1.5 to $2 billion from $4.6 billion in order to boost shareholder value.

“We are clearly of the mind that we will in due course see a reduction of our stockpile,” said De Beers spokesman Andrew Bone. “But it certainly won’t be in a haphazard way.” Bone said the reduction would likely take place in the next few years. “It depends on how quickly we can increase the number of consumers buying diamond jewelry,” he said.

De Beers has also said it plans to shift its marketing policy to focus on increasing global demand for diamonds rather than simply relying on building up its London stockpile in order to control market supply. De Beers share price has consistently underperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index in the past 10 years, prompting a strategic review of the firm’s operations.